I have seen this before. People who don't pull permits to do "improvements" and try to sneak a fast one on an unsuspecting buyer.

Seeing this new shower I was immediately suspicious.

Why? Because this model house, built in this area in the late 60s and early 70s, always has a powder room in this location.

Seeing it and seeing where the new shower was placed really got my Spidey Sense tingling.

The main drain stack could be seen beside the framing in the furnace room, as well as the drainage vent stack which proceeded from there to exhaust sewer gases through the roof.

So I began looking for clues.

1. No aspect of the slab had been removed to connect the shower drain you see to either of those stacks.

2. When the water drained I could not hear the familiar sound of air moving as the vent does what it is supposed to do during drainage.

3. Looking into the drain hole I could not see water, which would be present had a trap been in place beneath the drain hole.

4. If there was no trap sewer gas would have been noticed and I smelled no sewer gas.

So I looked closer into the hole!

What did I spy with my little eye?

The white connection beneath the hole which is a protruding part of the plastic pan to allow connection to the drain line beneath the shower.

But deeper down beneath it that protruding drain tube was connected to ... wait for it ...

NOTHING!

There could be no water in the trap because there was no trap!

What did I see? What did my client (a plumber) and the agent see?

Dirt, along with rubble from broken concrete. Not so visible in this photo all that was clearly visible to the naked eye.

The installer broke out an opening in the slab and dug a hole under the slab into which the shower was draining!

The shower water drained into the earth beneath the house! Back into the ground to restock the water table!

That may be code in other areas of the world, BUT NOT HERE!

Don't get me started with this - I won't say what I'm thinking.

My recommendation: just because you see a new anything does not mean it is correct. Every time I see new work I recommend to my clients that they check to make sure there was a permit pulled and closed by the local jurisdiction. The word "closed" means the local jurisdiction looked at the permitted work and approved it. When a home inspector gets a sense about something, allow him the leeway to line up and inspect the clues surrounding the work to see how professional it is. When it is not he will tell you! His job is to observe and report. And rest assured the shower you see here was reported to this home inspector's client!

Sheila - interestingly this neighborhood is full of people from other countries and stuff like this is rife throughout the neighborhood.

Fred - once I did an inspection on a house in the country with a new dishwasher. What I did NOT find out was that it was draining under the rear deck, which was right on the ground. The people called me about a month later, laughing. They were sitting on the deck after dinner and heard the dishwasher draining under their feet!

Oh boy what a nightmare and really, some 'contractors' have no sense of pride or ethics . Very disturbing.

Posted by Mary Hutchison, SRES, ABR, Experienced Agent in Kansas City Metro area (Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate-Kansas City Homes) over 1 year ago

Stephen - I have had that one only once before, in the same neighborhood! And once a laundry room was changed to a "bathroom" and the drains for the washing machine were used for the new toilet. Unbelievable.

Mary - it is truly that. I still maintain that these people were trying to pull a fast one, and get more money for the house with a new "full bathroom"...

Very interesting. I have a 'friend' who listed her house with another agent ... as I said 'friend'! I happened to know when she updated the master bath and made the lower level into a bedroom, dressing area and a wonderful bathroom. As I looked at her listing, I kept seeing where the other agent was saying 'recently updated'. I thought it only fair to contact my friend and tell her that Public Records had the most recent upgrade dated 1998! Ooops! Hence, I suggested that it would be a good idea to have all 'updates' permitted or she may have a problem with a sale because NONE of it was permitted or approved by the Board of the HOA!

Thanks Kristi. Yes, it pays to do some background checking! Often I see listing information that says "updated" this or that, only to find out the house was built in the 40s and the updates were made in the 70s!